Liao dynasty
|} The Liao dynasty, '''also known as the '''Liao Empire (officially the Great Liao (: 大遼), or the Khitan Empire (契丹国); was an empire in East Asia that ruled from 907 to 1125 over present-day Mongolia and portions of the Russian Far East, northern China, and northeastern Korea.The empire was founded by Abaoji, Khagan of the Khitan people around the time of the collapse of Tang China and was the first state to control all of Manchuria. Foundation Liao Dynasty was a regime founded by an ethnic minority called the Qidan (Khitan) who lived in the northeast areas of China. In 916, a Qidan man named'' ''Yelu Abaoji established the Qidan Kingdom. Initially, the kingdom was under the slavery system. The name "Great Liao" began to appear as the country name between 936 and 947. The dynasty name "Liao" refers to the Liao River in southern Manchuria, the traditional Khitan homeland. By 947, the title of the kingdom was officially changed into Liao, with Balin Left Banner (in current Inner Mongolia) as its capital city. Its territory mainly covered the northern part of China, with the estuary of the Amur River in the northeast, the middle part of Mongolia in the northwest, Tianjin and Hebei Province in the south. Since 983, the state became again known as the Khitan, but "Great Liao" reappeared as the country name in 1066, which lasted until the end of the dynasty. The Khitans Abaoji, who later became Emperor Taizu of Liao, was born in 872, the son of the chief of the Yila tribe. At that time, the Yila tribe was the largest and strongest of the eight affiliated Khitan tribes; however, the Great Khan, the overall leader of the Khitans, was drawn from the Yaolian lineage. In 901 Abaoji was elected to be the chief of the Yila tribe by its tribal council. By 903, Abaoji had been named the Yüyue, the overall military leader of the Khitans, subordinate only to the Great Khan. Four years later, in 907, Abaoji became the Great Khan of the Khitans, ending nine generations of Yaolian rule. Abaoji acquired the prestige needed to secure the position of Khitan Great Khan through a combination of effective diplomacy and a series of successful military campaigns, beginning in 901, against the Han Chinese forces to the south, the Xi and Shiwei to the west, and the Jurchens in the east. Great Khan The same year that Abaoji became Great Khan, the Chinese warlord Zhu Wen, who in 904 had murdered the last legitimate emperor of the Tang dynasty, declared the Tang over and named himself emperor of China. His dynasty dissolved quickly, ushering in the fifty-three-year period of disunity known as the Five Dynasties period. One of the five dynasties, the Later Jin (936–947), was a client state of the Khitans. The position of Emperor was determined by primogeniture; the position would pass from father to first-born son upon the father's death. While Khitan succession was also kept within families, an emphasis was placed on selecting the most capable option, with all of a leader's brothers, nephews, and sons considered valid choices for succession. Rebellion Khitan rulers were expected to hand over power to a paternal relative after serving a single three-year term. Abaoji signaled his desire to become a permanent ruler at his accession in 907, securing his position by killing most of the other Khitan chieftains. Between 907 and 910 Abaoji's rule went unchallenged. It was only after 910, when Abaoji disregarded the Khitan tradition that another member of the family assume the position of Great Khan, that his rule came under direct challenge. In both 912 and 913 members of Abaoji's family, including most of his brothers, attempted armed insurrections. After the first insurrection was discovered and defeated, Abaoji pardoned the conspirators. After the second, only his brothers were pardoned, with the other conspirators suffering violent deaths. The brothers plotted additional rebellions in 917 and 918, both of which were easily crushed. Height of Liao power The reign of Emperor Shengzong from 982 to 1031 represented the height of the Liao dynasty's power. Shengzong oversaw a successful military campaign against the Song dynasty which secured a long-term peace agreement with terms favorable to the Liao. He also oversaw a failed military campaign against the Korean Goryeo Dynasty. In 990 Liao emperor recognizes a "king of Xia" for Li yuanhao. Category:Medieval China Category:Great khans Category:Khitan Empire Category:Liao dynasty Category:Liao Taizu